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But federal prosecutors contend this was not a simple passing of the knife from one generation to the next. Though Ilan Senders was the public face of the sale, his brother Eyton, then 31, was listed as “co-owner and butcher” on bank papers. But according to a civil-forfeiture case filed March 10 in federal court, Eyton had never carved a side of meat, and instead used the shop as a money-laundering front for his drug-trafficking business.


Prosecutors allege that business, Dank Vapes and Dankwoods — which was implicated in a spate of vape-related hospitalizations and deaths in 2019 — manufactured and distributed at least 3.7 million vape cartridges infused with THC, the primary active ingredient in marijuana. Though marijuana use is legalized in some states, marijuana and THC distillates are still considered illegal substances under federal law. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in late 2019 that Dank Vapes was the brand most commonly reported by some 2,000 patients with serious or fatal lung illnesses nationwide that year.